On the Road Again

http://www.motherearthliving.com/The-Good-Life/11-12-2008.aspx

by Jessica Kellner, Editor

I haven't been traveling too much over the summer, which is odd for me. But fall has hit and the travel time is here again. Last week I went to Washington D.C. for the Green Festival. It was a great time and super busy. I always have a wonderful time at the D.C. Green Fest (this is my fourth year there); it's always filled with fun and enthusiastic readers and people who've never heard of us but are excited to make their homes and lives more eco-friendly. We also collaborated with bluehouse, an amazing eco-furnishings store in nearby Baltimore, who provided some really cool furniture for our booth.

I don't know how many of our blog readers realize that our publisher, Ogden Publications, also publishes Mother Earth News, The Utne Reader and The Herb Companion. Among the four titles, we cover the gamut of green living and progressive thinking, covering everything from armed eco-warriors in the Congo to canning produce, from building a straw bale home to preventing colds with herbs. When we talk to readers and potential readers, it's really awesome that we can provide nearly everyone with the title suited to their needs. I, of course, am a little biased in thinking Natural Home is by far the best (ha!) and have a lot of fun trying to outperform the other magazines in sales (I'll get you, John Rockhold....). But really, it's all in jest and all of our magazines are truly top-notch reads with editorial staffs incredibly dedicated to their audiences and subject matter...not to mention to honest and helpful journalism.

Our assistant editor, Kim Wallace, is headed for the San Francisco Green Festival as I write, so make sure to meet up with her there if you'll be in the area. Also, you can meet the entire Natural Home editorial staff—myself, editor-in-chief Robyn Griggs Lawrence, publisher Bryan Welch and assistant editor Kim Wallace—at the Eco Gift Festival in Santa Monica December 12, 13 and 14. It's going to be a blast...filled with really fantastic green gift ideas and items, information and tons of fun. If you're going to be in the area and plan to stop by our booth, shoot us an e-mail and let us know. We love meeting our readers.

Here's a fun little test for the end of this blog. At these shows, we have to describe Natural Home magazine in about a sentence and tell people why they should subscribe to this magazine. Of course, there are tons of convincing reasons and we have plenty of "pick up lines" to express them, but...if you were at the show, what would you say? What one sentence or one idea best describes the magazine and why it's useful to you? Give us your thoughts and help us bring more readers into the fold...